Second to last chapter of book one. Whew. Hope you've enjoyed the story and will put up the final chapter either later today or tomorrow. Enjoy!

And then George was flying. As if pillowed on a cushion of velvet, he found himself rising gently into the sky, away from the clearing, away from his city and from California. His eyes were still tightly closed, yet he could see with a greater sharpness and clarity than he had ever seen before. Colors were before him, colors with a texture and beauty that he had never seen. They tickled him with a radiance of light as he lifted gently through them, making him laugh in spite of himself.

And then he was soaring into space. Stars littered his vision in all directions, so many that he could not number them. They seemed to be endless, growing in number and brightness the farther he went. And in the quiet of his inward vision he realized with a start that the stars were singing. The melody was beautiful and lifting, a tune so sacred and simple that George knew he would forget it the instant it stopped, yet it would haunt his memory forever.

He was picking up speed. Instead of the slow movement past clusters of stars he had experienced at the beginning of his journey, the stars now seemed to race alongside him for an instant then disappear, leaving a faint trail at their passing. The kaleidoscope of stars shifted around him, as if each one reached out with invisible hands and rocked him gently onward through their midst.

And then he suddenly saw something black and cold. It seemed to arise from nowhere, then loomed larger and larger with alarming speed. While the heavens around George were so full of stars that he felt like he was in the middle of a black ball full of bright holes, this dark mass blocked out all signs of light in the path it occupied. Yet, while it loomed ever larger and colder before him, George still felt no fear. The humming melody of the stars whispered comfort to him, and bore him onward.

“This is what those on your world call a black hole,” came the gentle voice again in his mind. “Our only choice now is to throw ourselves into it.”

“Why?” asked George in a detached voice. He strangely felt no alarm at this unexpected announcement. He felt only peace. His fear had been left behind. He regarded the black hole as a bird would look at a rock; passive, disinterested.

“Because the journey we have taken is of our minds only,” came the reply. “Our bodies are back at the clearing, attached to the fallen star. By throwing ourselves inside, our minds will be consumed, and the energy link destroying your world will be broken, for it cannot exist without our minds to sustain it. Then the Grak will be stopped, and all will end.”

George looked calmly at the black hole, pondering what the voice had just said. Finally, he asked, “can’t you just use your power against the Grak? Why was it necessary to journey here?”

“Because you are holding me,” came the simple reply. “You are between me and them, so I could not act against the Grak unless I destroyed you first. And that is something I could never do, since you are pure in heart.”

“Our only alternative was this journey, and this sacrifice. But it must be a joint sacrifice to be effective. I must also sacrifice myself to stop the energy link on earth. Your sacrifice or my sacrifice alone will not work.

“It is still not too late to change your mind. Even now, your sacrifice must be voluntary, not forced by me.”

George looked disinterestedly at the black hole looming before him, hovering like an evil mouth of cold, ready to swallow them. Then he asked, “and what is inside the black hole?”

“I do not know,” came the voice again. “I only know it is black. If we go in, I do not believe we will ever come out.”

They stood on the edge of the hole for only an instant. Then in complete calm, the voice again said, “are you ready?”

“Yes,” responded George without any hesitation.

With a rush they dove into the black hole as if into a pond of black water. As they did so, all the stars and their gentle singing instantly disappeared. Everything was now black and cold, with an iciness more frozen and penetrating than anything George had ever felt. Consciousness was fading. The end was here …

… and then there was light again. And singing. And unspeakable joy. For the first time on his journey George opened his eyes. The black hole still stretched in front of him, filling a vast expanse of space. Yet it was rapidly growing smaller, as if it were shrinking. Stars still spun around him as if on a whirling, black carousel, singing their song of hope and joy. He looked at his hand. It was open and the Uth stone was glowing.

“I do not know what is happening,” the voice said in his mind again. “Our bodies have somehow joined us here, and the energy link on earth with the Grak ship has been broken. Some other power is pulling us. It pulled us out of the black hole, and is taking us somewhere.”

“It doesn’t matter,” replied George happily. “All that matters is that the link is broken. We did what we had to do. We made our decision, and made it in time. The earth is safe.”

The music and the light of the stars flowed over and through George as if he were a fish swimming in a clear, bright stream. The peace and joy he felt was indescribable. It washed over and through George in wave after wave. “I never knew space was like this,” he said. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It is,” agreed the stone. Then it suddenly seemed to glow, as if expanding in light. With a burst of sudden joy, its voice broke into George’s mind. “I know who is pulling us! I know where we are going! We are going home!”

“Home?” asked George curiously. “But we just left there.”

“Not your home,” came the voice again, brimming with happiness. “We are going to mine! Turn and look.”

With a little effort, George turned and saw to his surprise what looked like a glowing, large star seeming to zoom toward them, brighter and more clear than all the others around it. Although its brilliance was dazzling, it did not hurt his eyes. He continued to stare at it in wonder, as if hungrily eating the pure light that was radiating from it.

The star loomed rapidly larger. As it did, George was startled to see that it was not burning like the other stars. Rather, it was clear and glowing.

“This is my home,” said the voice again, happily. “A home I left millions of your earth years ago, when I was in my infancy. It is drawing us to it. It is taking me back. It has forgiven me for leaving.”

As they drew closer, George could see that what he was approaching was a round ball of glass, billions of times larger than the earth. With wonder he saw that he could look right through it, through billions and billions of miles of its clear interior, and see stars glowing on the other side without the slightest distortion.

The glowing planet loomed larger and larger. It filled George’s whole vision. And as they rapidly approached its surface, George could hear the singing of countless voices, united in a song of joy and gladness that far exceeded any music George had ever heard, even the song of the stars. The singing surrounded him, generated by the voices of untold numbers of stones like the one he was holding, who collectively made up this wondrous world.

Gently, they touched down on the planet’s surface. To George’s surprise, it felt soft like a pillow, even though it looked like solid, hard glass.

“Thank you,” said the voice in George’s mind again. “Thank you for joining my sacrifice. By giving up life, it was given back to us again. And it made it possible for me to come home at last.”

George looked at the glowing Uth stone in his hand. He smiled. “Thank you, for answering my cry for help, and for saving me and my world.” Slowly he lowered his hand and let the stone fall from his fingers, toward the ones it loved. With startling clarity, George understood now that his stone and every bit of the planet where he now stood was alive and vibrant, singing and joyous.

The stone fell gently from George’s hand, as if in slow motion. He heard a distant fading echo in his mind. “I’m home!” It said simply. “Home at last.”

Looking up, George saw to his surprise that Jiu Na and Donna Tereza were standing across from him. Each of them held in their hands their stone like his. They were both smiling. He did not need to ask what had happened. He knew that they had shared an experience like his.

Slowly they too dropped their stones, which floated like feathers toward the surface. George grinned at Jiu Na and Donna Tereza. Joy and happiness seemed to leap between them like a living creature.

And then, without knowing why, George slowly closed his eyes. He felt himself gently falling … falling … like a feather on a pillow.

And then he remembered no more.